Tournament play is on the horizon! It’s the start of a wild few weeks with conference tournament play helping to whittle the field. In the Big 12, Kansas has been the dominant team again, but there is a logjam of teams vying for the spots below the Jayhawks. Here’s a look at some of the top teams of the Big 12. Read the rest of this entry »

The SEC has a bunch of teams loaded with talent, depth and athleticism. Kentucky won national championships in 1998 and 2012, Florida knocked on the door in 2000 getting to the title game against Michigan State, then won it all with back-to-back titles. Here’s a look at some of college basketball’s best teams in the SEC. Read the rest of this entry »

A Big 10 representative hasn’t won college basketball ‘s national championship since 2000 (Michigan State), but Indiana got to the title game in 2002, as did Illinois (2005), Ohio State (2007), Michigan State (2009) and Michigan (2013), so they’ve been knocking on the door. Here’s a look at some of the best of the Big 10 with the March tournaments on the horizon. Read the rest of this entry »

With the Super Bowl in the rear view mirror, the next big event on the sports stage is college basketball’s season-ending tournaments. Since 1997, college basketball’s national champion has come from several different conferences: the Pac 10 (Arizona), SEC (Kentucky and Florida), Big 10 (Michigan State), the ACC (Duke, Maryland, North Carolina), Big 12 (Kansas) and the old Big East (UConn, Syracuse, Louisville). Over the next few weeks, let’s examine some of the top hoop teams in each conference, starting this week with the ACC. Read the rest of this entry »

The great Patriots offense against the dominant Seahawks defense! Where have we heard this tune before? It’s another Super Bowl clash of styles, one that went Seattle’s way last season in a 43-8 laugher….as an underdog. This is the second straight season that the top seeds in each conference have met in the big game, but that hasn’t been the norm, either. Read the rest of this entry »

In the world of eleven to ten, there’s nothing quite like Super Bowl week. In this case, it’s two weeks, as the teams have two weeks to prepare for the Big Game. It’s also one of the most creative weeks of the sports betting season. While there’s only one game left on the football calendar, there are still ample opportunities for betting with hundreds of creative props by various oddsmakers. Read the rest of this entry »

Back in Mid-August myself,along with a group of handicappers here on Freeplays.com made our predictions for the upcoming NFL and College Football season. I am happy to report that my prediction for the Super Bowl was better than last year, but then again it couldn’t have gotten much worse. This year at least I had one of my teams that I predicted in the Super Bowl make the playoffs. As for College Football I had two of the four teams in the College Final Four. I would have had three if Braxton Miller wounld have gotten hurt a week later. I had Ohio St in the Final Four originally, but took them out when Miller got hurt. So again I was off. Still some of our handicappers have done much better. Lets look at back at the predictions and see who did the best.

This is it, the final weekend of games before the Super Bowl. The last month we’ve been hearing about playoff seedings, bye weeks and home field advantage. Are all those things really important? Historically it has been during the second round of the playoffs. Teams with the bye have home field advantage and two weeks to prepare, both of which are usually important edges this time of year. Read the rest of this entry »

As the playoffs begin, those who earned the top two seeds in each conference have a key edge, as they get a bye the first week while watching the others duke it out. Sitting at home this past weekend were the Patriots, Broncos, Seahawks and Packers. Why is that significant? A year ago the 4 bye teams were the Broncos, Patriots, Seahawks and Panthers. The top AFC teams met in the title game, while the Seahawks went on to win the Super Bowl. Read the rest of this entry »

Happy New Year! After recovering from the weekend’s New Year festivities, we glide through the end of the bowl season. A few more bowls are appetizers for the tune-up that is first Final Four for all the marbles. Read the rest of this entry »